At Wayne Manor, Tim sat upright in front of his computer, his fingers flying over the keyboard. The others stood in a circle around him, their eyes fixed on the information appearing on the screen.
"Well? Well?" Dick shoved his shaggy head closer. "Bruce can usually secure a trending spot all by himself. This time, he brought Jason and Miaomiao along-three bombshells in a row. Surely we should sweep the top five?"
Jason snorted. "If he can't even manage that, the old man has no business showing his face in Gotham City."
"Father is always the best!" Damian remained a mindless Batman fanboy.
"It's out! We've swept the charts!"
They looked at the contents of the screen. From trending searches to Twitter buzz to forum discussions, Bruce Wayne and news related to him had completely taken over every search ranking in Gotham City.
The closest competitor was still the recent "A roundup of Bruce Wayne's girlfriends," with the "Scarecrow poison gas incident" below that.
"Sure enough, compared with actual news, nothing grabs attention like tabloid gossip. Throw in some scandal and something bizarre, and it blows up. Add a little mystery to keep people hooked... perfection!"
Dick offered commentary as he read, a satisfied smile curling his lips. "Not bad. This hit even harder than we expected. The negative news got swept clean off the charts."
Tim sat on the arm of the sofa, his sharp gaze scanning the data as he tapped his tablet. "The shift in public attention was highly successful. Charitable infrastructure projects and the Wayne Family's two domestic stories have drawn everyone's attention away. Gotham's negative public sentiment index is plummeting."
"Tch." Apart from Dick, who had grown up as a circus performer, Jason, who had clawed his way up from being a street punk, understood